all buttoned up.

Dude. FREE stuff.

Good Afternoon!  How can I make this Monday easier for you?  I need a little break.  All this party, you're one years old and practically an adult business makes me weary.  You'd think with all the loving our boy would like to sleep a little more.  You'd think. 

The good people over at Delight are offering 15% off this week when you use the code allbuttonedup (case sensitive) at the checkout.  HELLO.  It's just in time, too, because I'm broke and wanty.   

It gets better though-- they're launching a new gift bag series from RuMe this year and you have a chance to win a set for you and your best pal.  They are good, right?  And nobody will tell if you don't end up using them for gift bags, but it would be the right thing to do (probably).  All you have to do is leave a comment on this post stating which hot stuff from Delight you'd like to give or get this season and we'll pick a name at random at the end of the week.  Maybe by Friday (10/31) at Midnight PST. 

I'm pretty sure I'm going to get this bit of genius for Paul.  I'm particularly appreciative of how practical gifts are looking more and more beautiful these days and I still have my eye on those bags.  But if I were to be totally honest, the Christmas things are what are making me break out in little wanty spots (uh, this tree is awesome and so are these plates).  For some reason I was unaware of the whole jewelry section.  Not anymore.  Monday is looking better and better.

I went with the chocolate.

That boy. 

A few weeks ago I was trying to decide if we were going to have any kind of party for August's birthday.  I asked Paul about it and instead of the expected ambivalent response he said something like, "yeah... I think Augs would like it.  You know, being with all of his people".  I laughed.  Babies don't care.... give them some crumpled up paper and a stick to chew on and they're golden.  He was right though.

 

(Uniform-Studio Hat from Sally)

I've never met a baby who is so aggressively affectionate as this one.  He is completely silent in this endeavor-- making eye contact, bobbling over and putting his arms out, and then The Hug which finds his little fists holding on tight to the shoulders of your shirt.  It is as disarming to the receiver (who have often been strangers) as it has been alarming to us... this baby loves to love.  Not cuddle, mind you, but deliberate and careful love that rarely discriminates. The fiercest affection is reserved for Sam.  And his dad (duh.)

It's pretty rad.  So we had a party.

And of course, all of his people couldn't come to his party.  Some of them are in Korea or Kansas or India or across town.  His other family wasn't here and we miss them a lot.  I'm guessing Miss Hula got the sort of pictures that I wish I would've taken.  But being the keeper of the cupcakes and Mama takes precedence over any camera work.

 

(The Celebration Candle Kid from Sarah)

***
Party deets:

• Thanks for the recipes!! I went with Ina's chocolate cupcakes and ganache and Abby's almonds which were both very good.  I am filing those apple muffin/cupcake/bread recipes away for safekeeping.
• My mom made and brought some savory pie dough.  I roasted up some diced root vegetables and we baked small pies.  They were a little too flaky to be real finger food/handpies.  That is not a bad problem to have.
• Um, I'm not super down with the Sweet Potato Chips from Trader Joe's. 
• We added apples to the Portzelky/New Year's Cookies.  His first birthday warranted a blip in tradition.
• I bought a pile of 80 cent wooden masks on sticks from Michael's.  I always try to set up the craft/whatever right where the kids come in so they can get right to it.  It usually deals with any party jitters and leads to later craziness in the yard/house/all over.  I believe that birthday party craziness is all good.

 

***
The other day I was waiting for Sam in the hallway with Augie and all the other PreK parents.  The first thing August does when we get there, is wiggle out of my arms and find himself someone else to hold on to.  A staff member walked by laughing and asked another mother,  "Oh, who's this?  Is this your new baby?"

Another parent quickly answered, "Him?  This baby is August.  He belongs to everybody." 

Clotheslined.

Doh!   I have a feverish baby.  It's sweet but totally pathetic-- not unlike other areas of my life.  It's beautiful outdoors this week and they are forecasting dry and nice until the beginning of next week. 

We're still planning a party for Saturday and I took Sam to the store to get his brother a gift.  We ended up with a bunch of Playmobil 1-2-3 (surprise surprise).  Okay-- I would like to make some spiced nuts for the party.  Suggestions?  I would also like to make some sort of apple cupcake.  Is there such a thing?  I just have so many dang apples.  

I took leave of my body for about an hour last night and drove to a box store plaza to buy Sam some sort of skeleton decoration for the front of the house.  Who am I??  I do not even like this holiday.  I ended up with a Martha Stewart Window Cling.  I wish they still had the Owl one.  I would feel slightly better knowing it was doing double duty on scaring away our predatory squirrel and crow population.

Letter Keeper: To Sam, Love Mom.

I want to be one of those mothers who write their children poignant letters on their birthdays-- the sort of person who marks each year with a list of accomplishments and little loves in a special book or seals them up to be "opened when you turn 32".  Instead, I am the person who scribbles quick words to her boys after a particularly hard day on the back of a recipe card.  I mark firsts in the corners of my calendar.  I tell them how much I love them in between patterns in my notebook.  I bet you a dollar that if you picked up any of my notebooks/list pads/junk mail, you would find some kind of awkward apology or better yet, something like a date, time, and the words "he said dog today". 

This sort of record keeping is not really that bad, but it does get a little bulky.  I'm afraid to throw anything away lest I'm letting go of valuable family history.  I've kept up with their baby books (sort of) but that sort of information can be a little dry or worse-- a little too informative.  In the weeks following Sam's birth I recounted in detail my ugly labour story and the doctors that made it all possible.  I'm all for full disclosure but boy, do I need a good editor.  I don't know why I wanted him to know all of those things... or why I thought I should put it into the sort of thing that people keep on their coffee tables. 

I want both of my boys to have those words one day when they are good and ready (and much, much older).  And I want them to have them about the times that they can't remember, written right now, recounting it all as it happens and not how I might remember it one day.  But I want it to be just for them. 

Anyway.  You see where I'm going. I needed a place to keep all the scraps and bits that fell nicely in line with my "stuff it and forget it" mode of organization.  I give you, The Fabric Envelope.  It's lined with stiff interfacing and snaps down closed.  It's labeled with a fabric marker (a stamp would be better, but I was in a hurry) and the whole thing measures approx. 8" by 10".  It should fit the next 20 years of scintillating facts like "your favourite thing is the plastic chicken, 07/14/08" or the letters I've written to the boys (all three of them) when I was sure I was going to meet some kind of untimely death (I am a teeny tiny bit neurotic).  I don't want to leave things unsaid. 

The envelope fits into a file folder along with all our "grab in case of fire" documents and best of all, I can start recycling my old grocery lists without any parental guilt taking over. 

I'll put together a little how-to when I do one for Mr. Teeth.  We are beginning his birthday week tomorrow. Needless to say, I'm feeling a little bit maudlin.  Consider yourself warned.   

Face Cards.

Oh, I love these.  My sister bought them for Sam ages ago but I was hoarding them until he understood how awesome they are.  He totally gets it.

They were put out by Knock Knock, but the only place I can find them right now is right here. 

Paul decided to make his own when we run out.  That would be a really good gocco project, come to think of it. 

Linus.

Augie has taken to an old scrappy blanket of unknown origin (it's like one of those cotton hospital blankets, but it's been cut in half and left to die at our house).  It is strange for two reasons: 1. I know where almost everything in my house comes from, and 2. It only ended up in his crib by accident after we had a series of incidents resulting in all the other ones being in the laundry. 

The attachment began without us knowing it, and all of a sudden he would hurriedly try to grab up the whole thing (which is still very large even in its halved state) every time we tried to get him out of the crib-- big old coffee stain included.  It's really cute and all, but a little embarrassing considering there's a house full of nicer options and baby boy is insisting on dragging this thing around.

So today I cut the thing in half, took this great shirt Blair sent me and cut it into bias strips, and tried to pretty up his new best friend.  I feel slightly better (so vain) and he doesn't appear to notice the difference. 

Pre-K Update.

It's going pretty well. 

Mums the Word.

I like Chrysanthemums.  A lot.  Not the bright yellows so much, or the russets, but after you get past the supermarket varieties, there's a whole world of colour busting up October and giving those falling leaves a run for their money. 

They get a bad rap.  I know.  And I'm not surprised if you say that you don't like them.  But consider these: "Korean Apricot" from Xera.  I've been waiting all summer for them to bloom out.  It's shrub sized, silver and has been budding out since August, but held out on the blooms until last week.  They are long stemmed and graceful and look pretty fine in a little water on the table.  I like the whites too, and the deep dark chocolate and burgundy ones, especially when they get big and crazy.   

They are hardy little buggers-- we pulled everything off the vines this week to try and save what we could from the coming freeze.  The mums are fine though.  They are delivering en masse.  Nice one. 

BYOBag

I'm going to talk Christmas again so don't be mad.  You know that I'm not so into Halloween and I'm only so-so on Thanksgiving (the rest of my family celebrates this Monday, anyway), so Christmas is all I've got.

And I've got a lot of it. 

Grocery kits?  Okay.  I'm thinking two or three lightweight canvas bags-- square bottomed, with long enough handles to fit around cereal boxes and over the shoulder.  All the fabric was gifted/thrifted (a sturdy, thrifted bedsheet would yield a whole whack of them for not much money) and the sewing time is minimal-- all straight seams and no lining to mess with.  If you pinch the right sides together when you're done and carefully topstitch down the seams an 1/8 of an inch in, you'll create square sides as well. 

On top of the big bags I want to include some reusable produce bags.  LIke these ones.  Or maybe these?  Do you have a favourite?  There's nothing like jamming your eco bags with a bunch of plastic wrapped apples.  Finally, maybe a small pad with a magnet on the back for list making. 

Or you could skip the sewing and just pick up some Greengrocer Envirosax (my original plan, until guilt gripped my heart and I sat down to sew), which I love, love, love.   Wouldn't that make a kickass wedding gift, too?  Throw in some of those Twist cleaning clothes (um, I want those too) and put it all in a sweet cloth laundry bag and you're done. 

***

Hannah has pointed out that my categories are a mess.  She's right.  I'm going to try and get them whittled down a bit and straighten things up.  And maybe change that banner.  I'm about due for that once-a-year pull my hair out event. 

Boatneck.

   

The single best thing that I've learned when sewing with knits, is that it's okay to topstitch your neckline using a nice little straight stitch-- you just have to be very careful to press and pin and not stretch it out when you sew. 

I had attempted this top two years ago and used all sorts of stretchy stiches on my machine.  It turned into a mess of floppy necklines and ruffled seams.  I put it into the box under the bed.  Last week I pulled it out, re-cut the neck line, redrafted (!!) my sleeves so they would pucker a little at the top and pull down tight by the elbows, and set down to sew. 

Victory.  

And I'm only two-ish years behind on that whole coastal/boat look.

The original pattern was New Look, I think, and was shapeless, unisex and very un-good.  When I recut it, I used a cross between the Sew U Home Stretch, and the Check Stripe book that actually lives at Mariko's house now.  

I'm going to go take another look in the reject box and see if there's something else I can salvage.  

***Bloglines has dumped me for some reason.  Maybe they heard I was posting all the time and decided to give me the heave-ho. I'm looking into it.